Long-time blues man makes way to Feather Falls stage

OROVILLE &GT;&GT; Blues cuts deep into the roots of one's soul. A 15-year-old Rick Estrin learned this by grabbing his harmonica and listening to his sister's Jimmy Reed records.

"I've grown up with the blues, I've been playing the blues so long, the blues has practically been the soundtrack to my life," Estrin explained.

Now with decades of experience, the frontman with the perfect pompadour and dark black shades of Rick Estrin & The Nightcats, brings his blues 101 lesson to Feather Falls Casino on Saturday.

"The blues has helped me learn about, and make peace with, life and love and disappointment and heartache, and taught me the value of laughter," he said.

His bluesman career dates back to the late 1960s when he traveled to the windy city of Chicago, a then pinnacle for the blues genre, to play at various locales including the iconic Theresa's Lounge, a legendary blues bar and house of Chicago's blues godmother Theresa Needham.

While living in the city he shared the stage with the likes of Sonny Boy Williamson II, Buddy Guy and Muddy Waters — memories that remain vivid and fresh after all these years.

"Over the years, I've been lucky to have played and jammed with many of the true greats," Estrin reminisced. "It would be impossible to pick just one experience."

Eventually he would move back to California and become a co-founder of Little Charlie & the Nightcats along with Charles Baty in 1976.

Estrin inherited the band when Little Charlie Baty retired in 2008 and has continuously been an avid participant in all aspects of the process for more than 38-years including songwriting.

"You never know when you might overhear a snatch of conversation that can become the seed of a song," Estrin explained. "I'm a fan of writing so when I hear something I like, I automatically try to zero in on whatever it is about that particular song that is making it effective."

He cites both Rodger Collins for his early training into songwriting and the early encouragement and approval from "Hit The Road Jack" pen and storyteller the legendary Percy Mayfield, as pioneers who helped paved the way for his songwriting abilities.

Currently the band is touring in support of their new album "You Asked For It ... Live!," a new live project that was recorded last year at San Francisco's Biscuits and Blues on Estrin's birthday.

"The blues stay fresh because the blues is the truth, the human condition is a constant and correspondingly, so is the blues," he said.